In my Wednesday night shiur we have had an on and off discussion for some time about the parameters of Free Will. Suffice it to say that it is an endless discussion if one wants to explore all the options. As of late, we have primarily gone down one avenue.
The approach we have taken is that one is only faced with an opportunity to exercise Free Will when the options that are before him are completely equal. When he has exhausted all cost/benefit analyses and neither option is more optimal than another. It is it at that point, when one's intellect has no response to the question of, "What should I do?," that one can get in touch with his deepest will, his essential self, and then choose. That choice is an expression of Free Will.
Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai, a 15th Century Kabbalist says that exercising Free Will is the most powerful thing a human can do, because it is also the most God-like thing a person can do. God, in choosing to create existence, was not compelled to do so by any force other than His will. By making choices based on our will we are tapping into the deepest forces of the Universe.
What we realized last night is that it would then seem that the truest expression of Free Will is not in the realm of Mitzvos and Aveiros. In a case where I know what is right and what is wrong from the perspective of Halacha, and yet I have the power to do what I know is wrong if I so choose, then I am not really exercising Free Will. It may be that for me following Halacha is given great weight, and I will therefore choose to do so. It may be that following my own desires is paramount, and I will choose to do that. But it would seem that it is rare that in a choice such as this the options are truly equal.
It would seem that it is in the area of Reshus, of activities where there is no Halacha and I must choose how to conduct my life, that Free Will makes itself primarily found.
The approach we have taken is that one is only faced with an opportunity to exercise Free Will when the options that are before him are completely equal. When he has exhausted all cost/benefit analyses and neither option is more optimal than another. It is it at that point, when one's intellect has no response to the question of, "What should I do?," that one can get in touch with his deepest will, his essential self, and then choose. That choice is an expression of Free Will.
What we realized last night is that it would then seem that the truest expression of Free Will is not in the realm of Mitzvos and Aveiros. In a case where I know what is right and what is wrong from the perspective of Halacha, and yet I have the power to do what I know is wrong if I so choose, then I am not really exercising Free Will. It may be that for me following Halacha is given great weight, and I will therefore choose to do so. It may be that following my own desires is paramount, and I will choose to do that. But it would seem that it is rare that in a choice such as this the options are truly equal.
It would seem that it is in the area of Reshus, of activities where there is no Halacha and I must choose how to conduct my life, that Free Will makes itself primarily found.
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